Neuro Oncology

NEURO ONCOLOGY

Neuro-oncology is the study of brain and spinal cord neoplasms, many of which are (at least eventually) very dangerous and life-threatening (astrocytoma, glioma, glioblastoma multiforme, ependymoma, pontine glioma, and brain stem tumors are among the many examples of these). Neuro oncology includes the following:

• Chemotherapy, including both new and standard medications
• Immunotherapy, a personalized vaccine created with a patient’s own tumor cells to stimulate a tumor-specific response
• Angiogenesis inhibitors, new drugs that mount a two-fold attack on tumors, halting the growth of disorganized blood vessels and normalizing them, which makes it easier for other therapies to reach their target
• Targeted therapies, designed to attack specific molecular abnormalities in the tumor